Wax-coated penicillin product



United Our invention relates to wax-coated penicillin, and more particularly, it relates to a stable palatable waxcoated potassium penicillin product.

It is well known .in the medical profession "that a palatable potassium penicillin product is needed for administration over prolonged periods to patients, particularly children, afflicted with such diseases .as rheumatic fever, arthritis, bacterial endocarditis, etc. Such diseases generally require the administration of ,up to.one million units ofpenicillin per day for a period ranging from about to about years. Since absorption of this drug is essential, the use of potassium penicillinis preferred despite the taste of this material. Potassium penicillin is a bitter, unpleasant tasting material, the bad taste of which cannot be adequately masked by ordinary means, that is, merely mixing flavoring agents with potassium penicillin is not sufficient to overcome the unpleasant taste of this material.

We have now discovered a palatable potassium penicillin product wherein the unpleasant taste of potassium penicillin is completely masked and the product actually has a pleasant taste. Furthermore, our new product .is stable, economical, and relatively simple to prepare.

Our new product consists essentially of buffered :crystalline potassium penicillin particles coated with and/or embedded in wax, the coated penicillin particles of a critical size being mixed with a suitable flavoring agent or agents. Any of the usual buifering materials ordinarily employed with crystalline potassium penicillin can be employed in our new product. Such buffering agents include sodium citrate, calcium carbonate, aluminum thydroxide, sodium benzoate, magnesium oxide, .dihydroxy aluminum aminoacetate, sodium salts of fatty acids, etc. The flavoring agent can be any of the agents customarily employed in the pharmaceutical industry, such as, for example, cyclamate sodium, malted chocolate flavor, sucrose, cocoa, vanilla, saccharin, .rnint, oil of wintergreen, etc.

In carrying out our invention, we can employ any of the usually available waxes including natural waxes such as beeswax, carnauba wax, .candelilla wax, sugarcane wax, spermaceti wax, etc.; petroleum waxes including parafiin waxes, and .microcrystalline waxes; synthetic waxes such ,as higher polyethylene glycols, esters of polyhyd-ric alcohols, etc. and including wax blends of various kinds. We prefer to employ the so-cal'led :microcrystalline waxes because they are readily available, they are impervious to water and other agents which have a deteriorating effect upon crystalline potassium penicillin, and they are inert to the crystalline potassium penicillin which is the essential active ingredient .of our new product. Furthermore, microcrystalline waxes are physiologically inactive as opposed, for example, to paraffin waxes which have a laxative elfect in the body. Microcrysta'lline waxes are more fully described in Commercial Waxes, H. Bennett (1944), Chemical Publishing Company, Inc., Brooklyn, New York, beginning at page 60.

In preparing our new stable, palatable penicillin produci, We heat the microcrystalline wax to a temperature of about 95 C. in order to melt the same and to the melted wax, we then add buttered, crystalline potassium penicillin and agitate the mixture. After thorough agitation and mixing of the penicillin and wax, we then transfer the mixture to suitable cooling equipment to cool masked satisfactorily. Wethen mix the ground product.

consisting of fully coated and partially coated 'or waximbedded penicillin crystals with the flavoring agent or agents selected.

In preparing our new product, we preferably produce it so that it contains about 110,000 units of penicillin per gram and in so doing we can then make a label claim to a potency of 100,000 units per gram. Such a concen tration of penicillin would permit one to take -300,000 units of penicillin by taking one rounded 'teaspoonful of our new product. Our new product can, of course, 'be administered directly as .such or it can be mixed in milk or other beverage, cereal, ice cream, custard, etc. depending upon the desires of thepatient. Mixing ofour new product with .food is a particularly satisfactory method of administering the product to children.

The following example is offered to illustrate our in? vention; however, we do not intend to be limited to the specific materials, procedures, or proportions shown. Rather we intend to include within thesc'ope of this invention all equivalents obvious to those skilled in the art.

EXAMPLE I A 6.335 pound portion of microcrystalline wax was heated to a'temperatureof C. to melt thesame. To the melted wax, 1910 grams of buffered crystalline ,potas-, sium penicillin was added and the mixture then agitated until the two components were thoroughly mixed. The mixture was then transferred to a pan wherein it was cooled and solidified. Following solidification of the mixture, the material was ground through 'a number 12 screen and the ground mixture of wax-coated and "wax embedded penicillin then screened through a number 30, a number 40, and a number 60 screen. Equal amounts of material retained on the number 40 and number 60 screens were mixed and to the resulting mixture was added 4.75 pounds of malted chocolate concentrate and 1.2 pounds of cyclamate sodium. The added flavoring agents were thoroughly mixed with the wax-coated penicillin "and the material then dispensed into two-ounce T able I THERMAL EsTABIL'I'rY "rns'r 25C., 40 0., 60C., Storage Period Units] Per- Units] Per- Units] ,Per-

Gm. cent Gm. cent Gm. "went 0 Day 123, 500 123, 500 100 123, 500 100 126,700 100 123,600 100 124,200 100 6 Months 130,500 100 123,500 100 123,000 100 A series of ten patients was administered our new product by giving each of the patients a single oral dose of our new product in the amount of 600 thousand units of potassium penicillin. Following administration of our new product, penicillin blood levels in each of the Patented Sept. 1, 1959.

Following solidification of the being mixed with a flavoring agent and having a particle size ranging from about 20 to 80 mesh, whereby the bitter taste of the potassium penicillin is masked to such an extent that it is unobjectionable.

our new product. 2. The preparation of claim 1 wherein the flavoring Table II agent is a mixture of cyclamate sodium and melted choc- BLOOD LEVELS olate- 3. A process for substantially eliminatlng the ob ec- Hours 0 1 2 4 6 9 tionable bitter taste of potassium penicillin which comprises mixing a buffered crystalline potassium penicillin Units ML serum 0 M59 M31 124 M61 0010 with a molten wax, which is solid at room temperatures,

inert to the penicillin, impervious to water and substan- As indicated above, one of the most advantageous feafiany inactive Phi/90109621? Foohng the resulting mlx'. tures of our new product is its pleasant taste, making mm to the solid t gnndmg, the m through at the product acceptable from this standpoint to patients least one Screen having a mesh. slze raingmg about be they adult or child. As indicated, buffered crystalline P 5 ,mesh 3 l gg i i potassium penncillin has a very bitter taste which cannot pemc} m 18 coat? Wlt m 6 1d parades be masked by conventional methods. On the other hand, Wax l a Pamela S1Ze Wlthm Said range a our new product consisting of wax-coated buffered crystalmlxmg parflckis Wlth. a fiavonng agent; the resultmgline potassium penicillin particles of a Certain minimum 20 preparation be ng stable for at least 6 months when stored size, and a flavoring agent or agents is pleasant tasting at 9 haVlIlg P Y Of flbout 9 P0 9 and essentially no bitterness stemming from the presence unlts p g P r0dl1C111g Satisfactory penicillin blood of crystalline potassium potassium penicillin can be noted. levels When admlnlstered Orally and having substafltlany The following table shows the results of a taste test 110 objectionable bitter taste when taken orally.

Table III Waxonly Tasters Sample or Wax Mesh Number Peni- Size cillin 1 2 3 4 5 s 7 8 9 10 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N B N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N B N N B B N N N N N N N N N N N N N N B0 B B B B B B B B B N N N N N N N N N N B0 B0 B0 B B B0 B B B0 B 1 W0: Wax only, WP: Wax coated penicillin. N: N o bitter taste, 13: Bitter taste, BO: Objectionably bitter taste. wherein 10 different subjects were given a number of References Cited in the file of this patent samples of (our new proiiuct cttmtaining the poltiassignz UNITED STATES PATENTS penici in an some samp es con aming no penicl in u otherwise being the same as the penicillin-containing Si g 2 product. The samples were of varying mesh size and 2805977 f "'"I the subjects were asked to classify the taste as objec- 0 mson at a Sept 1937 tionably bitter, merely bitter, or no bitter taste. The FOREIGN PATENTS samples contained 55% by weight wax-coated penicillin 514 047 Great Brita Opt 1 0, or just wax, 43% by weight chocolate flavored malted 7 m "i J milk concentrate, 0.5% by weight sodium citrate and OTHER REFERENLES 1.5% by weight cyclamate sodium. Topicillin, Trademark 417,499, Oct. 30, 1945 (and at It can be seen from the above table that when the tached label for Topicillin Wafers). particle size of the wax coated penicillin decreased below McDermott: Oral Penicillin, Science, Mar. 2, 1945, 80 mesh, there Was a large number of subjects who conpp. 228, 229. sidered the taste objectionably bitter while for particle Bunn: J.A.M.A., Sept. 29, 1945, pp. 320-327. s zes of 80 mesh and larger, essentially all the subjects J. Clin. Invest, Mar. 1946, pp. 190-210, esp. p. 208, considered the product merely bitter or as having no col. 2, and p. 209, col. 1. bitter taste at all. Clin. Med., Chocolate-Flavored Penicillin, Feb.

Now having described our invention, what we claim is: 1950, 1 1 44, 1. An oral therapeutic penicillin preparation in solid cilloral,Am'Dl'llggishDficembel'1949- particulate form which comprises a buffered crystalline P Pharm' October 1945, P- 279, potassium penicillin coated with and embedded in solid Pemclum pastimesparticles of a wax which is solid at room temperatures, r -f 3 g inert to the penicillin, imperviousto'water and substan- 6 ag Oral Pemcflhn sclence 1945 tially inactive physiologically, said preparation having a potency of about 100,000 to 110,000 units per gram,

Burns: Stability of Dry Vitamin A Concentrates, Ind. and Eng. Chem., July 1951, pp. 1592-1593. 

1. AN ORAL THERAPEUTIC PENICILLIN PREPARATION IN SOLID PARTICULATE FORM WHICH COMPRISES A BUFFERED CRYSTALLINE POTASSIUM PENICILLIN COATED WITH ADN EMBEDDED IN SOLID PARTICLES OF A WAX WHICH IS SOLID AT ROOM TEMPERATURES, INERT TO THE PENICILLIN, IMPERVIOUS TO WATER AND SUBSTANTIALLY INACTIVE PHYSIOLOGICALLY, SAID PREPARATION HAVING A POTENCY OF ABOUT 100,000 TO 110,000 UNITS PER GRAM, BEING MIXED WITH A FLAVOURING AGENT AND HAVING A PARTICLE SIZE RANGING FROM ABOUT 20 TO 80 MESH, WHEREBY THE BITTER TASTE OF THE POTASSIUM PENICILLIN IS MASKED TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT IT IS UNOBJECTIONABLE. 